Tuesday, December 31, 2013

I have some jewellery for you today. When I got these little cabachon connectors in stock, I was itching to get creative with them... so many different ideas! I just love the vintage feel to them too and so I thought I would start with my ever favourite 1930s dictionary!

Firstly I inked the top of one of the cabachons with a black ink and stamped it several times onto my dictionary page. You can stamp over particular words if you want to! This then gives you the shape to perfectly fit into your cabachon. Don't forget to clean off the ink! Then cut out all your pieces. Add a little Glossy Accents into the bottom of the cabachon and then stick your dictionary piece. Use a pricking tool to push it firmly into all the edges. Once firmly fitted, then flood the area with more Glossy Accents and set aside to dry. Once dry, I fed a spacer ball onto an eyepin and then turned a loop the other side to join together all my pieces and fitted a catch.

For the other design, I stamped part of a Chocolate Baroque stamp using black ink onto white card and repeated the same technique as above.

I'm looking forward to making more with these lovely little connectors.

Wishing everyone a happy new year and all the best for 2014! What are your crafting plans for the new year?

Monday, December 30, 2013

Today's card is again from delving through my archives! I discovered this cute little cat card I created earlier in the year that never got shared with you all.

He has been created onto an A6 card. I started by cutting a piece of turquoise cardstock (I've used one with a bit of a texture to add some detail). I then used a Circle die to cut out a section in the bottom right corner. I added a dash border around the edge of my card using a fineliner pen and then set it aside. I next stamped my cat in Archival Ink being very careful to make sure he fitted into the circle gap I had cut - if necessary draw around your circle lightly in pencil, once you mount the blue piece back over you won't see the pencil line!. He is from a Penny Black clear stamp set. I then watercoloured him using distress inks by placing a little ink onto my craft mat and then picking up using a waterbrush to paint in the detail, but I could also have used watercolour pencils or paints too.

Next I cut out a Memory Box Chesapeake Circle out of white card. I cut a length of Cosmic Shimmer Ribbon and tied it into a bow around the blue mount (use a little double sided tape on the back to secure it in the position you want). I then stuck the blue mount over the top and then stuck the circle border matching the circle and trimming any parts that went off the end of the card. Finally I stamped the greeting and cut it into a little banner shape and stuck onto the card.

It's fun to play around with your Nestabilities to cut apetures in different positions and I also like to watercolour with my Distress inks - a whole different way to use them!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

I hope you are all getting some crafting time over the Christmas holidays... I'm yet to fit in my crafting session this week, so I have been going back looking through some of the cards I've made this year that I haven't yet shared with you.

This card is ever so simple to create. I've started with glossy card and used my brayer (roller) to apply Kaleidacolour Desert Heat ink. To get the best results with your brayer you are best to roll slightly left and right rather than just in a straight line. This allows your colours to blend better and get a smoother finish.

Once I had finished creating the two backgrounds I cut out a Crafty Individuals Lacewing Butterfly and a Crafty Individuals Gilded Cage dies just out of matt white card. I then mounted these onto my coloured backgrounds and matted with a black border. When you mount the butterfly, only stick down his body so his wings can be left with movement away from the card. I could some flourishes out of black card using Marianne Designs Frame with Swirl Die and added them in the background. I lovely simply card with clean lines.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

I sprayed the white card generously with water so it was quite saturated and then applied colour using Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, a touch of tattered rose and to be honest a few other random colours as by this stage I was using a very well loved colourful piece of cut n dry foam! I left it aside to dry and then embossed with a polka dot folder. Once almost dry, I wiped across the embossed area and as it had so much water the paper structure was quite loose so I was able to distress the dots by just using a cloth and my fingers to add a bit of interest. I stamped the ruler, and the numbers (both Paperartsy stamps) using Black Archival ink and then cut out an oval in white using a Spellbinders die. Onto the oval I stamped the dreams lady in black and then tinted her with salty ocean, mustard seed and a touch of pumice stone on her hands and face with her hair tinted with gathered twigs. I added a zigzag border using a fineliner and some dashes at the bottom as she looked to be floating in the middle! I then stuck the oval down onto my piece (d/s tape wasn't strong enough - it needed some pva as the card was so textured underneath!) I then added some dots and lines to highlight the edge of the oval and the little bird at the top and some curleques from the numbers and the border around the edge of the card.

This piece challenged me a little as it was doing something unusual for me, but I really like the finished piece and plan to do lots more pieces like this!

Friday, December 27, 2013

this is another stamp I borrowed from Sarah. Love the collage style of this one and I thought I was due some bright colours this time!

The stamp is from Hero Arts - Collage Mona Lisa.

I started with a white tag and built up bright colours with Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint and added water splashes which I then lifted off with a towel for some texture.. I added lots of dot details using sequin waste as a mask and then stamped the design using Archival black ink. I also stamped my tag onto scrap and cut out the shape so I could use it as a mask to add more yellow tones to the area of the stamp to make it stand out from the background. I used water to lift some of the colour from Mona Lisa and then painted in the holly using peeled paint and the berries using fired brick. I also added some shading to the Eiffel tower using Iced Spruce. I used my white gel pen to highlight some details of the stamped design and then added some cross-hatch patterns around the outside to add a little interest.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Thought I would post something non -Christmassy today! I've been really inspired by some of the art created by Wendy Vecchi from Studio490. This led me to playing around with a few ideas based on having colour splashes onto a white background. I added Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone, Salty Ocean and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink to white card and generously sprayed with water so it would run down with droplets of water to spread the colour. Once it had thoroughly dried, I stamped the cogs and the pattern background from the Steampunk Butterfly set from Chocolate Baroque using Pumice Stone. Next I stamped Wake your Dreams from an Andy Skinner Stamp set using archival black - but it didn't quite come out black enough so I traced over it with a black fineliner to make it really punch out. I doodled some hearts and borders around the piece to add some detail. I then stamped a Paperartsy number stamp at the bottom and cut out a Spellbinders cog die and two Papermania heart dies - which I then embossed with a polka dot embossing folder. I coloured the hearts using Seedless Preserves and then highlighted the dots with white gel pen and drew patterns around the dots with a fineliner and then stuck them down. I drew some details on the cog too. Finally I added the little flower as a little interesting detail! I had great fun with this piece and will definitely be creating some more.. I already have another design to post up in a couple of days!.. back to another Christmas design tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Woohoo Christmas Day! This is a scheduled post as at this moment I will be having a fab Christmas Dinner at our local pub with my family! Hope you are all having a fabulous Christmas and have lots of new crafting goodies to play with!

Today's project is using the same stamp as yesterday. My borrowed Santa Stamp. Well I was the ultimate in cheeky in that I used my friend Sarah's Stamp to make her Christmas Card - I figured at least I knew she would like the design!! I can publish it now as she should have opened her card.

The stamp is from Tim Holtz and I started by stamping the design using Archival Black ink onto white card and trimmed it to size. I then colour washed it with a waterbrush using various Distress Inks. Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, and the background was tinted with Iced Spruce. I then cut a piece of card larger than my first as a mount and coloured it with Peeled Paint.

Next I cut a selection of sized backing pieces from different brown shades of card and paper from my own stash to arrange as a backing.

I coloured some white card using Gathered Twigs Distress Inks and cut out the Memory Box Precious Snowflakes, the Memory Box Tessatina Border and a free Christmas Tree die I got on a magazine. I cut the tessatina border into a single line of squares (just love this die for it's versatility!) and mounted everything all together onto an 8x8" card blank. I was really pleased with the result and I hope Sarah was too!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Isn't it lovely when you get to borrow a stamp from a friend? Well my friend Sarah lent me this Tim Holtz Santa stamp and I just had to get started getting creative with it!

I cut myself a tag from a white piece of card and started building up the colours using Distress Inks - Ice Spruce, Fired Brick, Peacock Feathers adding some detail using That Special Touch Music border mask. I then spritzed with water and lifted the droplets with a towl to add some texture. Finally I added some dots using sequin waste as a mask. I then stamped by Santa using Archival Black. I used a water brush to wet the face area and a towel to lift off some colour so he stood out from the background.

Finally I dabbed some Fired Brick and Peeled Paint ink to my worksheet and used my waterbrush to paint in some detail on santa's suit and the holly and berries. I added some gold Cosmic Shimmer Gilding wax around the edge of the tag (this really glistens in the light) and coloured some white card with the gold wax. I then cut some strips to add to the top and the bottom of the tag. Finally I stuck on two snowflake charms.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Today's creation featured the newly in stock Poppy Stamps Blooming Poinsettia Die - it creates such a beautiful poinsettia - and I look forward to using this in summery colours as a flower later in the year too!

I started with a white tag shape and added Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone and Fired Brick Distress Inks with Cut n Dry foam. I also used That Special Touch Music note border mask (peeking out behind the poinsettia). I then embossed the whole tag using Couture Creations Turkish Delight folder and then added more distress ink shading. I next added highlights using Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Waxes - Gold and Patina and applied some patterns through sequin waste with Fired Brick. Splash with water and remove the droplets with a towel to give that distressed look.

I cut out all the pieces of the poinsettia die and coloured the three layers of petals with Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and a little touch of Gathered Twigs Distress Inks. It was then spritzed with water and the droplets lifted with a towel to give that mottled look. The top piece was coloured with Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and the leaf with Gathered Twigs and Peeled Paint with a hint of gold wax. I curled the petals to give it some dimension and assembled onto my tag using Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue.

the picture doesn't do the shading justice - particularly the wax highlights that really glisten in real life!

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About Me

I live in Norfolk with my husband Pete, Molly the dog and Finlay the cat and have always been a crafter. I started papercrafting in 2003 and love rubber stamping, experimenting with inks and other mediums as well as the traditional decoupage and am now also hooked on jewellery and beading! I started up a mobile shop and on-line crafting supplies shop in March 2007. In March 2012 we opened our high street shop in Attleborough. I run local monthly crafting groups and regular workshops. I also make wedding stationery and supply local shops and venues with handmade cards and jewellery.